The inventive concepts relate to resale of communication services, particularly pertaining to provisioning techniques for reselling such services.
Telecommunication services are offered to customers by companies that may not actually own and operate a single telecommunications network. This is performed by reselling telecommunication services provided by established telecommunications companies. However, reselling telecommunication services is not an easy task as it involves coordinating and integrating information from various telecommunications companies into the reseller""s business systems.
Reselling telecommunication services, particularly reselling cellular communication services, is administratively complex. Resellers of cellular communication services often desire to offer their customers cellular service throughout an expansive geographic area. However, the companies that physically provide cellular communication services (carriers) have geographically limited areas in which they can provide cellular communication services. For this reason, resellers of cellular communication services require a multitude of arrangements with different carriers in order to offer their customers cellular service throughout an expansive geographic area. An arrangement between a carrier and a reseller typically involves the carrier assigning a range of cellular telephone numbers, from the pool of numbers available through the carrier""s network, for the reseller to administer for the reseller""s customers. The carrier may also provide the reseller with some form of data-link access to the carrier""s provisioning system. so that the reseller can activate telephone numbers and provision features for telephone numbers on behalf of the reseller""s customers.
Each carrier that a reseller makes an arrangement with offers general service activation and a variety of features for its cellular communication services that a reseller can offer to its customers. Often, the particular features available for cellular communication services vary from carrier to carrier. Also, each carrier has its own independent provisioning system, and sometimes more than one unique system, for activating service and provisioning features for its cellular communication services. Because a reseller typically makes arrangements with multiple carriers, a reseller must know the required data for, and how to operate, a multitude of provisioning systems, as well as variations due to differences in available features. Administratively, this is a complex problem that resellers face.
Representatives for a carrier are required to fluently know how to operate the carrier""s provisioning system so that customers receive fast, accurate and reliable service. Each provisioning system is designed to operate with a specific carrier""s cellular network and has a unique set of parameters that it requires, to perform activation and provisioning of features for a mobile telephone number. The required parameters vary depending upon what action the provisioning system is performing. For example, the required parameters for activation might include a customer""s name, address, billing information, and mobile identification number for the customer""s cellular telephone, while provisioning a feature such as call waiting might require only the mobile identification number for a customer""s cellular telephone and the customer""s account number. Often a carrier has multiple networks, each with its own provisioning system. Typically a carrier handles multiple cellular networks and multiple provisioning systems by training some representatives to operate one of the provisioning systems and other representatives to operate other provisioning systems.
Representatives for a reseller of cellular communication services are also required to fluently know how to operate provisioning systems so that the reseller""s customers receive fast, accurate and reliable service. However, a reseller does not operate two or three provisioning systems. A reseller may be required to interface with fifteen or more provisioning systems, depending upon how many carriers the reseller has arrangements with and how many distinct provisioning systems each carrier operates. Each provisioning system is accessed through a separate computer application and requires unique information and knowledge for operation. This means that a reseller must have representatives capable of operating each provisioning system, and training courses established to train representatives on each of the provisioning systems. A typical representative can learn how to fluently operate at most two or three provisioning systems because operation of a provisioning system requires a representative to learn a new computer application and the unique information that application requires. Establishing training courses, training representatives, providing support for multiple computer applications, and the number of representatives required to operate all of the provisioning systems that a reseller must operate is costly.
Another significant problem for resellers is that there is too much information relating to activating and provisioning telephone numbers on all of the different carriers"" provisioning systems for a reseller to establish a single service center. Reseller representatives must identify each incoming call relating to a provisioning operation with a particular carrier. Often, this is done by having representatives memorize ranges of telephone numbers that belong to each carrier the reseller has arrangements with.
This task is easier for representatives if at least some of the possible carriers are eliminated by having different service centers that serve different service regions. For example, a reseller offering cellular services throughout the United States might have a service center in the North East, one in the South, one located in the Midwest, and one on the West Coast.
Separate service centers are also needed because of the equipment required to operate all of the different provisioning systems. Within a service center different workstations are configured with different applications that operate unique provisioning systems. For example, one representative""s workstation might run two applications, one for each of the provisioning systems that the representative is trained to operate, while the workstation for the representative next to him could run three completely different applications, one for each provisioning system that she is trained to operate. This results in various workstation configurations and different networks within a single service center that are necessary to physically communicate with and operate the multiple applications for provisioning systems to which the service center interfaces. From a technical standpoint, resellers must limit the variation of workstation configurations and networks within a service center in order to maintain and administer the computer resources for a service center.
Yet another problem is lack of synergy between reseller representatives"" job duties. Because of the complex nature of provisioning systems and the separate computer applications required to operate each provisioning system, each reseller representative knows how to operate only a few different applications for a few provisioning systems. This means that a limited number of reseller representatives know how to operate the application for a provisioning system for each particular carrier. Therefore, reseller representatives cannot be transferred from one service center to another because the applications for provisioning systems are different in each service center. It also means that if only a handful of representatives were to become ill, or quit, or otherwise become-indisposed, the reseller could be left without any employees that know how to operate one, or.several of the applications for provisioning systems in a service center.
A configuration for a reseller""s service center is schematically depicted in FIG. 1. A reseller of cellular communication services operates its own cellular network 109. Although shown, a reseller of cellular communication services might not own its own cellular network and would only resell cellular services provided by other carriers. The reseller operates a computer system 102 that runs an application (not shown) that interfaces with the reseller""s provisioning system. The application on the computer system 102 communicates with the provisioning system 105 having a provisioning server 103 and a provisioning database 104. Although shown in its own service center 101, the computer system 102 could be included in other services centers such as service center 100 for example.
The application on the computer system 102 and the provisioning database 104 is used to activate telephone numbers and provision service features in association therewith, for the reseller""s cellular network 109. Essentially, the computer system 102 uses the application and the provisioning database 104 to communicate with the mobile switching center 106 (MSC) and/or the base station controllers 108 (BSC) to provide information regarding activation of new telephone numbers and addition or subtraction of features, such as caller identification or an answering service, for example, for mobile station A, identified with an existing telephone number.
The reseller also operates a service center 100. For simplicity, FIG. 1 depicts the reseller having connections with only two carriers for the service center 100, but multiple connections for multiple carriers typically enter a service center. Within the service center the reseller operates two separate computer systems, 110 and 120. The computer system 110 runs an application for performing activation and provisioning on Carrier I""s cellular network 117, i.e., for cellular telephone B. The computer system 120 runs a different application for performing activation and provisioning on Carrier II""s cellular network 127, i.e., cellular telephone C. Cellular telephone D illustrates that Carrier II administers cellular telephones on the same cellular network 127 that the reseller utilizes. Although not shown, Carrier I also administers telephones on its cellular network 117. The physical structure for cellular networks 109, 117, and 127 are similar, although the physical communication connections may differ, and activation and provisioning occur through the same process of information transmitted from a computer system 102, 110, or 120 to an MSC and/or BSCs. However, activation and provisioning are not the same for the cellular networks 109, 117, and 127. The major difference for activating and provisioning telephone numbers on the different cellular networks 109, 117, and 127 is the different applications that are run on the computer systems 102, 110, and 120, the different features available on each cellular network 109, 117, and 127, and the different parameter set required by each provisioning system 105, 113, and 123. Reseller representatives must know the geographic areas and what telephone numbers correspond to which carriers, how to operate each of the separate applications for each provisioning system, and what data to supply to the various provisioning systems 105, 113, and 123 in order to fulfill the required parameters needed by a particular provisioning system 105, 113, or 123 to perform activation of a telephone number and provisioning of features for a telephone number.
For example, three different customers having three different cellular telephones, cellular telephone A served by cellular network 109, cellular telephone B served by cellular network 117, and cellular telephone C served by cellular network 127, call to ask for caller identification to be added to their cellular communication service. To start, reseller representatives must associate each existing customer""s telephone number with the correct carrier""s cellular network, i.e., cellular telephone A with network 109, cellular telephone B with network 117, and cellular telephone C with network 127. Then, representatives must know how to operate the computer application for each provisioning system and the required parameter set relating to caller identification for each provisioning system. The representatives then supply the necessary data to fill the required parameter set for each provisioning system. This means that provisioning system 105 requires certain information in order to establish caller identification for the telephone number related to cellular telephone A, that provisioning system 113 requires different information in order to establish caller identification for the telephone number related to cellular telephone B, that provisioning system 123 requires yet different information in order to establish caller identification for the telephone number related to cellular telephone C, and that reseller representatives must know the information required by each provisioning system.
Having a separate workstation and a separate application for each provisioning system is problematic and inefficient for a reseller. Along with the problems noted above, inefficiencies arise from having multiple service centers, such as owning duplicate buildings that serve the same purpose. Inefficiencies also arise from having reseller representatives who know only a few provisioning systems out of many. For example, in a business day a service center might receive many customer calls relating to provisioning, but none of the calls are for provisioning systems for carriers that an individual reseller representative knows how to operate. While the service center is busy, and many reseller representatives are busy, there would be at least one reseller representative who is idle because of the manner in which resale of cellular communication services is conducted.
For a reseller of cellular communication services or the like, there is a need to simplify activation and provisioning when reselling communication services provided by multiple carriers. There is also a need to synergize activation and provisioning of cellular telephone numbers for reseller representatives relating to multiple carriers"" provisioning systems and the applications used to operate the provisioning systems.
These needs and others are met by embodiments of the present invention, which provide a computer application having a common front-end interface and a back-end interface pointing to specific provisioning systems, to activate and provision services through networks belonging to multiple carriers. The common front-end interface communicates with at least a database. The back-end interface is configured to communicate with every provisioning system for every carrier that a reseller of cellular communication services has arrangements with. The back-end interface also performs the necessary translations and data conversions to use information from the front-end interface to activate and provision features for a telephone number in a particular carrier""s provisioning system.
Accordingly, an aspect of the present invention relates to a method for activating and provisioning telephone numbers belonging to multiple carriers utilizing a single front-end computer interface. This method comprises several steps, of which the first is receiving an activation or a provisioning request for a communications device into a common interface. Next, a telephone number is identified and associated with the communications device. Then, a determination is made concerning which carrier is associated with the identified telephone number. The next step is identifying a provisioning parameter set required by the carrier""s provisioning system, and creating provisioning data relating to the action to be carried out by the provisioning system. Communications with the carrier""s provisioning system are established, and the provisioning data is sent to the carrier""s provisioning system to provision the telephone number.
Accordingly, another aspect of the present invention relates to a system configured to provision telephone numbers belonging to multiple communication service providers. The system comprises a computer, and a single front-end interface running on the computer that receives and displays information for provisioning telephone numbers. A database communicates with the single front-end interface. The database contains telephone numbers, and it identifies associated service regions for each telephone number as well as an associated carrier for each telephone number. The database stores sets of required provisioning parameters for each carrier""s provisioning system. The system also comprises a plurality of configurations, each of which is adapted to enable communications with a distinct provisioning system. Scripts are executed by the computer. Each script communicates with the single front-end interface and the database. Each script is written to identify a required provisioning parameter set for a particular carrier""s provisioning system, depending upon an activation request and/or the feature to be provisioned. Each script utilizes the single front-end interface, the database, and the set of required provisioning parameters for a particular carrier""s provisioning system to create specific provisioning data for a telephone number. Each script also triggers provisioning for a telephone number utilizing one configuration adapted to enable communication with the particular provisioning system for a carrier.
Other advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description, simply by way of illustration of the best mode contemplated of carrying out the invention. The invention is capable of other and different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications in various obvious respects, all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawing and description are illustrative in nature, not restrictive.